An interview with the father of a 'Stand Your Ground' shooting victim.

The third time was the charm when 18-year-old Joseph Cooley jumped into Spring Bayou and resurfaced gripping a white cross.It was his final time diving alongside other boys, ages 16-18, as part of the 111th annual Epiphany celebration, a Greek Orthodox Christian ceremony celebrating the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.It is often called the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and brings thousands of people to Tarpon Springs every year.

Andrew Lumish cleans and restores headstones of veterans and posts their life story on social media websites under the name "The Good Cemeterian." He does this in honor of his friend and co-worker Chris Scala who was a veteran that had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and took his own life in 2013.

Tag along with alligator trapper Julie Harter as she pulls a couple gators out of two Hillsborough County lakes.

More than 500 people attended a town hall style meeting for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who was invited but declined to show up Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017 at the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 599 building in Tampa. Constituents at the event slammed Rubio for voting in lockstep with President Donald Trump, and asked him to instead preserve the Affordable Care Act, protect environmental legislation, block a "Muslim ban" and listen to concerns about national security.

Synthetic marijuana, commonly known as "spice" or "K2", is hitting the Tampa Bay homeless population hard. Emergency workers have noticed a 300% increase in spice related calls in the parts of town where the homeless hang out.

Artist Jaume Plensa talks about what inspires his groundbreaking work.

Memoria in Aeterna is the name of the Confederate monument that for more than a century stood in downtown Tampa. Local politicians and members of the public argued why it should stay or be removed, just like in other cities throughout the country. In the end it was removed from the entrance of the former county courthouse and placed in a private suburban cemetery.

Michael McGlockton describes the pain he feels after his son, Markeis, was shot and killed outside a convenience store near Clearwater on July 29. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri did not arrest the shooter saying stand your ground tied his hands in the matter. In the days following his son’s death, Michael McGlockton became a vocal opponent of the law saying his son’s death "opened up my eyes to see the injustice of this law." "If this law continues here in the state of Florida, it’s going to be like the Wild, Wild West," McGlockton said. "That’s exactly what it’s gonna be."

329 students and 49 staff were displaced by a three-alarm fire at Lee Elementary School in Tampa Sept. 12, 2017. The 111-year-old school was closed due to Hurricane Irma and no one was hurt in the blaze, . Lee was not used as a shelter during Irma, which residents said knocked out power in the surrounding neighborhoods. When power was restored, residents said they saw smoke coming from the roof before flames consumed the second floor. Lee students and staff will share the campus of Lockhart Elementary Magnet School, a mile and a half away, until the Hillsborough County School District decides what to do next.

Doug Hughes, the former mail carrier who landed his gyrocopter on the west lawn of the U.S. Capital to protest big money in politics, finally achieved what he set out to do two years ago. On Wednesday, April 12, 2017 Hughes mailed 535 protest letters to each member of Congress at the post office in Riverview where he worked for 12 years. Two years before, Hughes carried the letters on the landing gear of his gyrocopter as he flew through protected airspace causing a stir on the National Mall and grabbing the attention of news outlets across the country. Hughes is currently writing a book about his flight and after his probation he hopes to work on his plan to get reform minded candidates elected to Congress by 2020. (April 20, 2017) JAMES BORCHUCK | Times staff.

Hurricane Matthew destroys family restaurant

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson takes a ride with the Thunderbirds and lives to tell about it.

In February, Floyd LaFountain was released from prison after a series of U.S. and Florida Supreme Court decisions that declared it unconstitutional to give juveniles life sentences. When LaFountain was 16, he and two other acquaintances broke into an elderly Tampa man’s home during an attempted robbery and one of those acquaintances, Kyle Moran, shot and killed the homeowner. LaFountain was sentenced to life for his role in the crime but was released after serving 22 years. The Tampa Bay Times looks at LaFountain’s life after prison and the reaction of the victim’s son who still lives in the area.

Patients in the intensive care units at 5 BayCare hospitals can now be monitored remotely which gives them another layer of medical care that no one else in the Tampa Bay area offers.

Volunteers from Home Depot built a wheelchair obstacle course at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa over the summer and patients say using it boosts their confidence. Some veterans, like former Army Sgt. Joel Rodriguez, are also using it to train for the 2016 National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Doctors at Florida Hospital Tampa have come up with a new procedure to treat pancreatic cancer. They pump chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumor which kills the cancer cells and shrinks the tumor.

Tim Dutka has cerebral palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. That hasn’t slowed him down though. Recently, he celebrated his 20th anniversary as a employee of Home Depot where he works in the returns department. His co workers, family and friends threw him a party to celebrate his milestone.